Bolivian plane rerouted on Snowden suspicions

NSA leaker Edward Snowden's chances for finding refuge outside the U.S. are dwindling. His best bet may hinge on the President of Venezuela, who was in Moscow on Tuesday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (July 2)
AP

A Bolivian plane was rerouted under supicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board.

In this file photo taken on June 28, 2013, a Russian supporter of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden holds a poster outside Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.(Photo: Sergei Grits, AP)

Story Highlights

Bolivian plane was carrying President Evo Morales

Many countries have now said he needs to apply for asylum in person

Putin said Snowden could stay, but that he must not harm Russia's "American partners"

MOSCOW — NSA leaker Edward Snowden's prospects for political asylum abroad narrowed rapidly Tuesday after he withdrew his request to Russia and almost half of the 21 countries on his request list have turned him down.

Meantime, France and Portugal refused to let a plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales into their airspace because of suspicions that Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, was on board. The plane was rerouted to Austria, said Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca. The official denied Snowden was on board.

"We don't know who invented this lie, but we want to denounce to the international community this injustice with the plane of President Evo Morales," Choquehuanca said.

The developments involving Snowden continued globally. The former contractor abandoned his request for asylum in Russia after President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he must stop his anti-American activity.

Russian news agencies Tuesday quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Snowden, unhappy with the conditions Russia has set, had taken back his application to Moscow.

"It's true, Snowden did express a request to remain in Russia. But having found out yesterday about Russia's position, voiced by President Putin, about the conditions for theoretically doing so, he rejected his intention and request to stay in Russia," RIA Novosti quoted Peskov as saying.

Putin said Monday that Snowden would have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wanted to be granted asylum in Russia, where Snowden has been hiding out for eight days since his arrival from Hong Kong. Putin said that while Moscow "never hands over anybody anywhere," Snowden needed to stop harming Russia's "American partners."

Peskov added Tuesday that "handing over Snowden to a country like the U.S., where the death penalty can be applied, is not possible."

Snowden fled to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong in May with top-secret documents and court orders on government surveillance operations. He has also signaled his intention to leak more of those documents at a later date.

The U.S. government has revoked his passport and issued an arrest warrant on charges of violating the federal Espionage Act.

From Snowden's initial list of 21 countries, at least 10 have either turned him down flatly or said his request was invalid because he was not physically on their territory.

Snowden broke almost a week of silence on Monday by issuing a statement on the WikiLeaks website that said his "continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will."

That was followed Tuesday by a statement detailing the number of countries, in addition to Russia, to which he had applied for asylum: Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

Brazil and India have turned him down. Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain and Switzerland said a request would be invalid because it was not made from their own territory.

"We haven't received a visit or any sort of application from Snowden," Valentina Anufrieva of the Embassy of Switzerland in Moscow told USA TODAY.

She added that Swiss asylum claims can only be filed from within Switzerland itself.

"Only when the person's life is in danger can we make an exception," she said, "but that doesn't appear to be the case here."

Ecuador, which has given asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its embassy in London, has been giving mixed signals about offering him shelter, and increasingly distancing itself from the case.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa told The Guardiannewspaper that Quito blundered in giving Snowden temporary travel documents -- publicly disowned five days later -- that allowed him to leave Hong Kong for Moscow, where he had been for eight days.

"It was a mistake on our part. Look, this crisis hit us in a very vulnerable moment," he told the newspaper in an interviewed published Tuesday. "Our foreign minister was touring Asia. Our deputy foreign minister was in the Czech Republic. Our U.S. ambassador was in Italy."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is visiting Moscow, said Tuesday that Snowden had "done something very important for humanity" and deserved the "world's protection." But Maduro said that Venezuela had not received a request from Snowden for asylum.

Earlier, a Russian security official said that Russia's Federal Security Service and the American FBI were in talks over Snowden.

"Of course they (President Obama and Putin) don't have a solution that would suit both sides, that is why they have ordered FSB Director (Alexander) Bortnikov and FBI Director (Robert) Mueller to be in contact and look for options," RIA Novosti quoted Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev as saying Monday.